- Why You Should Worry About Keeping Your Computer Safe
- Getting to Everything Security Related in Vista
- What Spyware and Malware Are and How Your Computer Gets Them
- Symptoms of Malware on Your Computer
- Getting Rid of and Keeping Malware Off Your Computer
- Windows Defender
- What to Do If You Suspect Malware But Can't Get a Pop-Up to Close
- What Is a Virus and How Is It Different from Spyware?
- Protecting Your Computer from Viruses
- Determining If You Have a Virus
- The Importance of Automatic Updates
- Turning On Automatic Updating
- What Is Windows Firewall?
- Why You Should Back Up Your Computer
- Backing Up the Files on Your Computer
- Backing Up Your Entire Computer
- Where to Store Backups
- Restoring Your Computer from a Backup
- Automatically Backing Up Your Computer
- What Is Service Pack 1 (a.k.a. SP1)?
- How Do I Get SP1?
- How Do I Install SP1?
Backing Up Your Entire Computer
If you remember from the last tip, this option is good for making a copy of your entire computer system. A good time to do this is when you first get your computer running with Vista and all of the programs you use installed on it. It’s also good to run this every now and then after you’ve installed new programs. This saves a lot of time should your hard drive ever crash. You won’t need to go back and reinstall everything. To back up the entire computer using the Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore image, go to the Control Panel (from the Start menu) and look under System and Maintenance. Click the Back Up Your Computer link to go into the Backup and Restore Center. Under the Back Up Files or Your Entire Computer section, click the Back Up Computer button. This walks you through the wizard to create an entire backup of your computer. The first step is to choose where you want to store your backup. Choose a location and then click Next. The next screen confirms your settings. If you’re happy with them, then click the Start Backup button and you’re in business.